Oh my. I finished Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner. The last several years have brought many books about food. Michael Pollan’s Ominovore’s Dilemma seems to be the spark that lit the fire. That book prompted Bookman and I to cut everything that had high fructose corn syrup out of our diet. Then there was Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I read it even though I don’t eat fast food; McDonald’s and company are not exactly vegan friendly places. So that book was like watching a horror movie during which I congratulated myself frequently for not being the stupid one who doesn’t turn on the lights and ends up getting gruesomely murdered. There have been other books but I got burned out and overwhelmed because they all started to sound the same.
Now we have Pandora’s Lunchbox that does and does not cover some of the same ground as other books. Warner’s focus is on processed food. She defines processed food as “something that could not be made, with the same ingredients, in a home kitchen.” The food that turns out to be processed is surprising and scary and what happens in the processing is even scarier. While reading I sometimes had to pause and wonder how some of this stuff could even be considered food anymore.
It turns out that about 70 percent of calories in the American diet comes from processed food. Mass-scale food processing requires the resulting food all look the same and taste the same every time and, in addition, it has to be able to sit on a shelf for a long time without spoiling. To make this happen, real food is pretty much destroyed and rebuilt with synthetic chemicals, compounds and vitamins. There are at least five thousand food additives being used, another one thousand “ghost” additives, and no one has even tried to figure out what substances get added unintentionally through processing (machine lubricants and cleaners) and through the packaging materials.
A common food additive, sodium benzoate, is a preservative made from petrochemicals and commonly also found in paint thinner. As long ago as 1911, a scientist named Harvey Wiley tried to get sodium benzoate banned from food. Test after test on human volunteers showed that it was potentially poisonous, causing nausea, headaches and vomiting. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture food scientists took a vote and decided there was nothing wrong with it in small quantities. Today you can find it in condiments, salad dressings, sauces, frozen foods, fast food meals and soda.
The thing is, companies put these chemicals in food without any sort of regulation. They are supposed to submit requests to use new substances to the FDA but most of the time they don’t. And the FDA is so underfunded they don’t have the resources to do anything about it. So it is a matter of the food companies saying things are safe until proven otherwise. And even if these additives are safe in small amounts, the “safety” of them is only ever calculated individually. In other words, nobody takes into account that sodium benzoate is in your chicken nuggets, your dipping sauce and your soda. It adds up fast when these things are everywhere.
Two of the most interesting chapters in this book were on cereal and vitamins. Breakfast cereal from the grocery shelf is eaten by one-fifth of American adults and one-third of children on any given day. There is nothing natural about even the organic cereal. It has all been processed and almost all of the natural vitamins and minerals have been destroyed in that processing. The nutrition label on the side of the box that lists the fiber and all those important vitamins and minerals, that makes you think it comes from the healthy oats or purple pebbles that pass for blueberries is pretty much a lie. All the nutrients in the cereal are synthetic. Not only that, cereal can sit on the shelf at the store for as long as nine months. Vitamins degrade over time and so, in order for the cereal to have, say, thirty percent of you recommended daily allowance of vitamin C by the time you eat it, seventy-five percent of RDA is added in. Even so, tests have been done on forty-four popular name brand cereals and half of them were found to be nutritionally deficient with the other half coming in at adequate.
And multivitamins? All synthetic chemicals not even derived from real food most of the time. Many vitamins are manufactured in Chinese factories and many of those factories are environmental polluters. The big push for everyone to increase omega-3s in their diet, don’t get me started. If you believe in conspiracy theories, spend some time reading about the processed food industry.
Bookman and I have been slowly weaning ourselves from processed food over the years. We’ve been doing a pretty good job of it for the most part. About two months ago we stopped buying boxed cereal and started making our own. It has turned out to be really easy. Bookman has posted his recipe for anyone interested. Our homemade cereal tastes so much better than store-bought. There are no additives, no preservatives, we put real fruit in it and the sugar content is minimal. And it is more filling. In spite of this I have sometimes thought about “splurging” on a box of organic Cascadian Farms cereal. But after reading Pandora’s Lunchbox, no way! Warner has confirmed we made the right choice.
The world of processed food is a horrifying place. What Warner writes about may or may not be surprising depending on how food aware you are. The book is well written, well organized, and moves at a good pace. I recommend it if you want to know more about processed food. Will the book change my eating habits? I’ve already been changing them and will continue to do so. For me, it serves as yet further confirmation that our decision to move away from processed food was the right one. As David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center says, “The active ingredient in broccoli is broccoli.”
helcha8 said:
Love the last quote: “The active ingredient in broccoli is broccoli.”
Good job not eating processed food. I try not to eat processed food but I do. Wish I had your discipline. Maybe I need to read that book !!!
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Stefanie said:
Helen, isn’t that a great quote? We try to not eat processed food but sometimes fast and easy convenience wins out. Still, the less we eat of it, the easier it gets to not eat it. But what was surprising about the book is that food we don’t even think of as being processed oftentimes is. It sent me to the kitchen to read some labels, that’s for sure!
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Iris said:
I need to start making my own cereal. Reading your post honestly scared me a little. Don’t know if I can quite face the book just yet..
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Stefanie said:
Iris, if my post scared you a little then read the book and you will be terrified. The things they do to bread! The cereal turns out to be easy to make and you can play with the recipe to get different flavors and change up the ingredients. It is well worth the effort, I think. Good luck!
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Grad said:
Yipes! Loved this post but I think I’ll take a gander at my pantry to see what’s lurking in there. I think the only processed food I buy is breakfast cereal but I’ll try Bookman’s recipe this weekend; it sounds good. I never buy prepared salad dressings, but I have all kinds of sauces in the fridge so I probably have sodium benzoate in there as well. I’ve never been a fast food person. I think I might have been to McDonalds twice – only when traveling – but it was pretty tasty as I recall. I did go to Subway yesterday and got a veggie delight. It felt healthy, but do you think they treated the raw vegetables with some sort of chemical to keep them appearing fresh? It was crunchy and crisp, but I probably should have made my own. I’m going to find this book.
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Stefanie said:
Grad, thanks! I am a label reader but since the book I’ve been scrutinizing the labels of the things we buy most often. My chocolate soy milk that was such a treat for me to have a small cold glass of when I get home from work is gone to be replaced by regular soy milk which is less processed and a little bit of unsweetened fair trade cocoa powder that has noting in it but cocoa. I haven’t quite got the ratio yet but it is turning out to be tastier than the processed chocolate milk. We do our own salad dressings too. It is so easy and we make just enough. It’s great that you don’t eat much processed food or fast food, though I have to tell you, Subway is not healthy. Warner talks about what they put in their “healthy” food and their “fresh” bread. It isn’t pretty. I bet you would like this book, though it will probably ruin your enjoyed of Subway.
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Grad said:
Yeeeek. That’s the first time I went to Subway in about 7 years. I had to come to the is;land at lunchtime, and it’s right there, and I was hungry, so I figured what the heck. I usually don’t buy lunch because I’m frugal and take mine to work. I think I’ll just make my own “veggie delight” using my own veggies and the bread I bake (so easy with a bread machine.) Like I said, I’m getting this book!!!
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Stefanie said:
I take my lunch to work too because I am frugal and because it’s easier than finding vegan good food prepared by someone else. I hope you enjoy it when you get it (if one can enjoy a book like this).
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Louisa said:
Wow, great summary of Pandora’s Lunchbox! I am guilty of relying on cereals, thinking they are a healthy option, especially for my daughter, who is super-picky. I am going to try to make my own and see what I can do to cut out more processed food. Thanks for the review, although I don’t think I can face the book yet, either!
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Stefanie said:
Louisa, thanks! I had to leave lots out, but you get the gist of it 🙂 The breakfast cereal industry is one huge multi-billion dollar scam. Don’t feel bad about relying on cereal as being healthy, why would you think otherwise? I did too until I read this book. They spend so much money on marketing and packaging and they are experts at making us think that what is in the box is all natural and healthy. Good luck in making your own cereal! Your daughter might surprise you and like it a lot.
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Ryan said:
If I could just ween myself off beer and potato chips, I’d be 100% processed food free. Alas….
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Ryan said:
Oh yeah… and great review. This is a book I’ll be reading soon.
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Stefanie said:
Ryan, thanks! Ah potato chips! I hear you on those. I’ve managed to cut way back on eating them but they are so good. Beer, well, you could start brewing your own to avoid anything bad from big brewery processing.
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Colleen said:
I too have been getting as far away as possible from processed foods. I didn’t know a lot of what you’ve discussed here, but I know I’ve felt better and better–more energetic mostly–since I’ve been relying almost entirely on whole foods. It’s nice to have Science confirm our choices though. 🙂
Do you consider tofu a processed food? I used to have a soy milk maker that had an attachment for for making it, so that technically is something you can make in the kitchen. But it does rely on some sort of chemical, I think. It’s moot for me, sadly, as I can’t eat soy at all anymore. But if I could, I probably still would even if it is technically processed–it’s so damned tasty and I miss it so damned much.
I make a cereal very similar to Bookman’s! It *is* much more delicious, and filling, than the store-bought stuff.
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Stefanie said:
Colleen, It is good to have science confirm one’s choices! As for tofu, I don’t consider it processed but technically it is. We stick to the good organic tofu that doesn’t have a lot of stuff added in though I notice some brands are starting to add in extra vitamins. And while we used to eat a lot of it, over the years we’ve learned there are lots of things to eat that aren’t tofu. Now and then we flirt with the idea of making it ourselves, but ugh, what a lot of work! And we do drink soy milk too. The only other whole-protein milk is hemp. We tried it once and didn’t much care for it. Yay for homemade cereal!
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iliana said:
Oh dear… I eat cereal for dinner! Although lately because of the heat I’ve been eating fruit salad. How scary and sad that this is what many of us eat (processed food) and what companies tell us we should be eating because it’s healthy and fast and convenient!
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Stefanie said:
Iliana, heh, don’t feel bad, I do that too! Only now it’s homemade cereal and much more substantial. That cereal even has synthetic vitamins added was a huge struggle that took place in the 1960s between the cereal industry and Congress. It was really interesting that Warner talked to several food scientists who work for the industry and while they were not concerned about food processing, they said, they themselves rarely ate it. That alone make you stop and wonder.
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Melwyk said:
I try to eat healthily but have been relying on more processed food of late. This is a good reminder, and like others have said, a scary one — not sure I can face this book! But must do.
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Stefanie said:
Melwyk, processed food is so easy especially when you are tired or really busy. Cooking whole food takes planning and a bit more time. So it is good to be reminded now and then about why real food is so much better.
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Vanessa said:
This book was my personal jump start in the spring. After reading your review and evaluating my fridge and pantry, I have sadly allowed some processed foods (like salad dressings and bread) to return to my diet. This is a good reminder for me to not reach for the bottled dressing when I can so easily make my own.
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Stefanie said:
Vanessa, good for you! It’s easy to let processed food creep in because it is so darn convenient. For as long as we’ve worked at it we slide sometimes too. And all those fancy dressings are so tempting even if homemade is easy to make and tastier.
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litlove said:
Although my cfs diet is often a pain, it’s meant that processed food has been out of my cupboards and fridge for a long time. Everything but everything has sugar added to it, and given I can’t eat sugar…. But since I’ve been getting better I have inevitably been getting lazier, and I do buy salad dressing when I could easily make it and I have a weakness for tomato ketchup. Generally I only buy whole foods and I cook from scratch every night. But when even the staples like bread and cereal are tampered with, you do wonder what’s safe any more. Scary.
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Stefanie said:
Litlove, it is shocking how much sugar and fake sugar creeps into food that shouldn’t even have sugar in it to begin with. No wonder there is an obesity epidemic. We all get lazy and food companies are so expert at making their processed food look so tantalizing.
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Danielle said:
It’s scary to think what is sitting on those supermarket shelves! I really do try and stay away from processed foods, but I am sure a lot still creeps in. Sadly we cannot rely on the FDA to look after the best interest of consumers! I want to read this book, but I think it would make me too nervous–though sometimes that shock is a good thing–and eye opener. I read Fast Food Nation many years ago and stay far, far away from any sort of fast food restaurants (am generally leery of most restaurants actually–sodium city most of the time!). Thanks to Bookman for sharing his recipe–must give it a go!
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ian darling said:
I remember reading a hilarious piece by Bill Bryson about a binge of processed “foods” he could buy in American supermarkets. He kind of blissed out on them until he noticed that none of them tasted of anything. And we all know “Fast Food Nation….Looks like an alarming book anI may have consumed my last ever Pot Noodle!
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Stefanie said:
Ian, it is alarming to find there is very little actual food in processed food and Bryson is right, so much of it doesn’t taste like anything.
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Stefanie said:
Danielle, it is very sad that we can’t rely on the FDA, I mean we should be able to, right? That’s what they are there for. You probably won’t be too surprised by the book, but it’s still a bit alarming.
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